Ski pole basket

ABSTRACT

A ski pole basket for mounting on the body portion of a ski pole, includes a hub member for engaging the body portion of the ski pole, and a skirt member connected with the hub member, the skirt member including a corrugated area having a plurality of corrugations, the corrugated area extending inwardly to the hub member and outwardly from the hub member to the perimeter of the basket.

United States Patent [1 1 Giambazi 1 SKI POLE BASKET [76] Inventor: James D. Giambazi, l2 Abbott Street, Cumberland Hill, R1. 02864 [22] Filed: Jan. 11, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 105,468

[52] US. Cl 280/11.37 Z [51] Int. Cl. A63c 11/24 [58] Field of Search 280/1 1.37 Z, 11.37 B, 280/11.37 E, 11.37 N.l1.37 R

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,425,706 2/1969 Lindberg 280/1 1.37 Z D169,644 5/1953 Weiss..... 280/11.37 Z X 2,721,084 10/1955 Weiss 280/l1.37 N FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,478,108 8/1969 Germany 280/1 1.37 Z

[ July 3, 1973 439,048 12/1967 Switzerland 280/] 1.37 2 426.590 6/1967 Switzerland..... 280/11.37Z 384,438 2/1965 Switzerland ISO/11.37 2

Primary Examiner-Leo Friaglia Assistant ExaminerMi1ton L. Smith Attorney-Joseph S. Iandiorio and Dos T. Hatfield 5 7] ABSTRACT 7 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures PATENIEUJUL 31915 3.74331 1 [NVEN'Z'OR JAMES 0. GIAMBAZI PATENTED JUL 3 I973 sum 2 or 2 435311 SKI POLE BASKET FIELD OF INVENTION This invention relates to a ski pole basket, and more particularly to such a basket whose skirt member includes a corrugated area.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION Conventional ski pole baskets are of three main types. One type includes a hub, an outer ring or rim which bears on the snow and resists further penetration by the pole into the snow, and spokes interconnecting the rim and hub. The rim may be plastic, metal or any similar material and the spokes are usually plastic, rubber or some similar material. The hub may be plastic, metal, rubber or the like and may be pivotally mounted to the pole, or the spokes, or both to permit freedom of movement of the rim. The rim, spokes and hub may be separate elements or an integral unit. This type of basket is generally relatively heavy, expensive to make, and provides a small snow resistance area generally defined by the rim and spokes. In addition this type of basket can be troublesome to the skier. The rim can get snagged on twigs, branches, roots, rocks, boot buckles and similar articles causing a pull on the pole that can result in the pole being jerked from the skier's hand, and injury to the hand, wrist or fingers. The skier may even be made to lose his balance and suffer an unnecessary fall. In addition, upon an improper pole plant or loss of control the skier may run over the rim with his skis resulting in the catching of an edge which nearly always results in a fast, sharp fall to the skier. A second type of ski pole basket uses a solid disc or cup which serves as the hub, spoke and rim. This type of basket is relatively inflexible and does not adapt to the terrain well, although in certain conditions it does provide an increased snow resistance area. This type, too, presents the hazard of catching an edge. The third type of basket has no rim, no peripheral edge, but rather includes only a hub and spokes. This type tends to function poorly as a snow resistance device because the free ends tend to bend upwards upon meeting the resistance of the snow.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a light weight, inexpensive, simple, aesthetically appealing, ski pole basket which provides a large snow re sistance area, a flexible rim or edge that adapts to terrain conditions, a simple shape not apt to snag on twigs, buckles or the like and not apt to interfere with the motion of a ski across it.

This invention features a ski pole basket for mouning on the body portion of a ski pole. The ski pole basket comprises a hub member for engaging the body portion of the ski pole and a skirt member connected with the hub member. The skirt member includes a corrugated area having a plurality of corrugations; the corrugated area extends inwardly to the hub member and outwardly from the hub member to the perimeter of the basket.

DISCLOSURE OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Other objects, features and advantages will occur from the following description of a preferred embodiment and the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an axonometric view of a portion of a ski pole carrying a basket according to this invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the basket of FIG. I.

. FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the basket of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of an alternative form of the basket of FIG. 1 in which the corrugations extend generally radially from the hub but follow curved paths according to this invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of another alternative form of the basket in which the corrugated area includes a number of different sections according to this invention.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of still another alternative form of the basket similar to the basket of FIG. 5 in which the corrugations in each section are generally parallel to each other according to this invention.

FIG. 7 is an axonometric view of another form of a basket according to this invention.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the basket of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is an elevational view of the basket of FIG. 8 with a section taken along line 9-9 of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is an elevational view of one form of a basket according to this invention having a flexible hub member with the skirt member shown in phantom.

The invention may be accomplished using a basket having a skirt member with a corrugated area. Increased pressure on the basket spreads the corrugations allowing the skirt member to conform to irregular terrain. The skirt is a simple, continuous, one piece design free of portions that can snag on articles or that can catch an edge of the ski.

In preferred form the corrugations extend radially from the hub outwardly to form a flexible perimeter defined by the outer ends of the corrugations. The ends of the corrugations may be chamfered outwardly and downwardly to provide a lower circular edge which has a larger radius than a second upper circular edge.

In one embodiment the corrugated ski pole basket 10, FIG. 1, includes a hub 12 for mounting to a ski pole 14 which hub 12 is integrally formed with the skirt l6.

Skirt 16 and hub 12 may be integrally formed of plastic such as by molding or may be independently formed and then united. Hub l2 and skirt 16 each may be metal, plastic, rubber or other suitable material. Skirt 16 includes a corrugated area 17, which in this embodiment is coextensive with the basket, having a plurality of radial corrugations 18, FIG. 2. Corrugations 18 may be chamfered outwardly, downwardly at their ends 20 to form beveled profile 22, FIG. 3. Such chamfering results in two peripheral, circular, flexible edges which can flex to adapt to terrain conditions, lower edge 24 and upper edge 26 having a smaller radius. Skirt 16 provides no means which can be caught intwigs, roots, branches or buckles and no means that can interfere with a ski which might inadvertently track over the basket 10. The weight of a ski inadvertently tracking across skirt 16 will flatten the corrugations in that area so that skirt 16 does not impede the movement of the ski. The slope of beveled profile 22 further aids movement of a ski over and off skirt l6. Skirt 16 provides approximately 2% times the area of snow resistance available in comparable disc type baskets which have at least twice the area of comparable spoke type baskets. Pleats 18 may be enlarged at their outer ends to pro duce a periphery 25 shown in dashed lines; this construction permits the basket to extend downwardly,

lower than hub 12 so that the basket will engage the snow before hub 12 does.

Although the embodiment described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 illustrates a ski basket 16 in which the corrugated area 17 includes a single circular area containing radially extending corrugations emanating generally from the center of hub 12 and following a straight line path, these are not necessarily limitations of this invention. For example, in FIG. 4 a skirt 16' is shown having a plurality of corrugations 18' which extend radially from hub 12 but which follow curved paths from hub 12 to the perimeter of skirt 16'. In another form of the invention shown in FIG. 5 corrugations 18" are radial and follow straight line paths from hub 12 to the perimeter of skirt 16" but the corrugated area 17" includes a pluralityof separate sections 19 each of which contains one or more of corrugations 18''. A ring 21 may be added if desired at the periphery of skirt 16". In another form of the invention shown in FIG. 6 skirt 16' includes a corrugated area 17" having a plurality of separate sections 19' each of which contains one or more corrugations 18" which extend outwardly from hub 12 to the perimeter of skirt 16" but which are not truly radial: corrugations 18" extend outwardly from hub 12 to the perimeter of skirt 16" but they are generally parallel to each other and do not all emanate from the center of hub 12 or any other center. A ring 21' may be added at the periphery of skirt 16" if desired.

In an alternative form of the invention, FIGS. 7, 8 and 9, a basket 30 may include a hub 32 and a skirt 34 including a corrugated area 35, which is shown coextensive with skirt 34, having circular corrugations 36 concentric with hub 32. Hub 32 and skirt 34 may be metal,plastic, rubber or similar material, each may be of different material or of the same material and they may be integrally or separately formed. The innermost one of corrugations 36 is fastened to hub 32 and each successive one of the one or more additional corrugations 36 is flexibly supported by the adjacent one so that each ring or corrugation 36 is free to move about adjacent rings. In this manner the skirt 34 may flex to accommodate terrain conditions and to permit a ski to track over it. The same type of variations of the shape and arrangement of the corrugations and of the corrugated area illustrated with respect to the baskets of FIGS. 1 6 may be applied to the baskets shown in FIGS. 7, 8 and 9.

The hub 12 shown in FIGS. 1 6 and the hub 32 shown in FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 are flexible hubs but any of a wide variety of other types of hubs may as well be used. For example, a more rigid hub may be used or a hub 50 such as shown in FIG. may be used to provide greater pivotal action for skirt 52, shown in phantom. Hub 50 includes a cylindrical portion 54 for engaging the ski pole and a second concentric cylindrical portion 56 which is connected to skirt 52. A third annular hinge section 58 interconnects portions 54 and 56 allowing a full range of pivotal movement for skirt 52.

The hubs disclosed herein are illustrative only and many other shapes and designs may be employed according to this invention. Similarly, the size, shape and arrangements of the corrugated areas of the skirts and the size, shapes, paths and extent of the corrugations disclosed herein are illustrative only and many other variations may be employed in accordance with this invention.

Other embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art and are within the following claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A ski pole basket comprising: a hub member for engaging the ski pole, and a corrugated skirt connected with said hub member including a plurality of generally radial corrugations extending inwardly to said hub member and outwardly to the perimeter of said skirt, said corrugations being contiguous to each other, uni form in shape and regular in occurrence and including a plurality of ridges and hollows, each ridge being contiguous to a hollow and each hollow being contiguous to a ridge, each said ridge having the same shape as each of said hollows and occurring regularly throughout said skirt, the cross-section area of each of said corrugations increasing with increasing distance from said hub member.

2. The ski pole basket of claim 1 in which said corrugations are rectilinearly radial.

3. The ski pole basket of claim 1 in which said corrugations are curvilinearly radial.

4. A ski pole basket comprising a hub member for engaging a ski pole, and a corrugated skirt formed in a plurality of segments and connected with said hub member each of said corrugated segments including a plurality of generally radial corrugations extending inwardly to said hub member and outwardly to the perimeter of said skirt, said corrugations being contiguous to each other, uniform in shape and regular in occurrence and including a plurality of ridges and hollows, each ridge being contiguous to a hollow and each hollow being contiguous to a ridge, each said ridge having the same shape as each of said hollows and occurring regularly throughout said skirt, the cross-section area of each of said corrugations increasing with increasing distance from said hub member.

5. The ski pole basket of claim 4 in which said corrugations are rectilinearly radial.

6. The ski pole basket of claim 4 in which said corrugations are curvilinearly radial.

7. A ski pole basket comprising a hub member for enjoining a ski pole and a corrugated skirt formed in a plurality of spaced segments and connected with said hub member each segment including a plurality of par allel corrugations extending inwardly to said hub member and outwardly to the perimeter of said skirt, said corrugations being contiguous to each other, uniform in shape and regular in occurrence and including a plu-' rality of ridges and hollows, each ridge being contiguous to a hollow and each hollow being contiguous to a ridge, each said ridge having the same shape as each of said hollows and occurring regularly throughout said skirt. 

1. A ski pole basket comprising: a hub member for engaging the ski pole, and a corrugated skirt connected with said hub member including a plurality of generally radial corrugations extending inwardly to said hub member and outwardly to the perimeter of said skirt, said corrugations being contiguous to each other, uniform in shape and regular in occurrence and including a plurality of ridges and hollows, each ridge being contiguous to a hollow and each hollow being contiguous to a ridge, each said ridge having the same shape as each of said hollows and occurring regularly throughout said skirt, the cross-section area of each of said corrugations increasing with increasing distance from said hub member.
 2. The ski pOle basket of claim 1 in which said corrugations are rectilinearly radial.
 3. The ski pole basket of claim 1 in which said corrugations are curvilinearly radial.
 4. A ski pole basket comprising a hub member for engaging a ski pole, and a corrugated skirt formed in a plurality of segments and connected with said hub member each of said corrugated segments including a plurality of generally radial corrugations extending inwardly to said hub member and outwardly to the perimeter of said skirt, said corrugations being contiguous to each other, uniform in shape and regular in occurrence and including a plurality of ridges and hollows, each ridge being contiguous to a hollow and each hollow being contiguous to a ridge, each said ridge having the same shape as each of said hollows and occurring regularly throughout said skirt, the cross-section area of each of said corrugations increasing with increasing distance from said hub member.
 5. The ski pole basket of claim 4 in which said corrugations are rectilinearly radial.
 6. The ski pole basket of claim 4 in which said corrugations are curvilinearly radial.
 7. A ski pole basket comprising a hub member for enjoining a ski pole and a corrugated skirt formed in a plurality of spaced segments and connected with said hub member each segment including a plurality of parallel corrugations extending inwardly to said hub member and outwardly to the perimeter of said skirt, said corrugations being contiguous to each other, uniform in shape and regular in occurrence and including a plurality of ridges and hollows, each ridge being contiguous to a hollow and each hollow being contiguous to a ridge, each said ridge having the same shape as each of said hollows and occurring regularly throughout said skirt. 